Tuesday, October 01, 2013

Jaish al-Islam

To
recap, on 24/9 a statement was issued on behalf of at least 11
rebel groups. ISIS, a branch of al Qaeda, is out in the cold, for the
time being, but a group not previously known for its islamist
credentials is joining forces with Jabhat al-Nusra, a slightly
less extremist franchisee of al Qaeda. All these groups disowned
the SNC or any group based
outside Syria. But it's only a statement and they will maybe
continue to cooperate with Gen. Salim Idriss and the Supreme
Military Council.

Obviously, this makes the supplying or arming of moderate factions of
the rebels more difficult to argue for. But it also
puts a question mark over the much-touted "diplomatic
solution". Who would you negotiate with? This was
made even more clear when there was some possibly even bigger news
breaking on 29/9, the formation of the Jaish al-Islam or
Islam Army, of which more later.
Al Jazeera had this: Many
rebel groups join forces in Syria (17:27).
Amazingly, there was nothing on this story on the BBC WS on Sunday and
nothing on the website. They did report that Jarba had agreed
to the Geneva II talks in November, after meeting the
UN Secretary General (BBC WS, 29/9, 08:00). Brown Moses
remarked: Added appropriate quote marks - Syrian "opposition
chief" holds first meeting with Ban Ki-moon http://t.co/vv7cdhE6rX
(@Brown_Moses) September
29, 2013, 1:29 PM

Back to Jaish al-Islam.
In contrast to the 24/9 statement, which was delivered by just one
of the groups' leaders, the video of this shows 8 or 9 leaders, with
scores of others in a conference hall type setup.

The consequence: Jaish al-Islami
has been formed in the Rif Dimashq region [Damascus region]. Zahran
Alloush a serious power player now. September 29, 2013, 10:08 AM One picture from conference hall, shows Jaish al-Islam's new logo & the commanders joining newly formed group. pic.twitter.com/FbS8BwBC8o — 10:28 AM First the 11-group "Aleppo Statement", now the formation of Jaish al-Islam. Real genuine SNC influence now exists only in #Deraa. — Charles Lister (@Charles_Lister) 10:31 AM RT ~> “@hlk01: Statement of the formation of the Army of Islam http://t.co/BsSyV2hzBm — Pieter Van Ostaeyen (@p_vanostaeyen) 10:44 AM